Cleaners find gold bars in aircraft loo
If you’re flying business class on an Indian jet, it may pay you to check the toilets for hidden gold.
A scam aimed at smuggling gold bars into India has been uncovered, with the latest incident involving a Jet Airways plane at Kolkata airport.
Cleaners found 24 gold bars worth more than US$1 million hidden in the plane’s toilet.
Police investigators say smugglers are targeting those international flights which, after landing at an Indian airport, continue on to another destination within India.
The scamsters are thought to travel business class on international sectors since the number of passengers is less and the toilets are much less used.
They leave the gold behind when the aircraft lands at an Indian airport, before its onward domestic leg.
Another passenger then books a business class ticket for the domestic leg, removes the hidden stash mid-air and, on arrival, walks away without customs examination.
Recently, an aircraft cleaning crew found 280 gold bars inside a plane’s toilet after it flew from Dubai to the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka.
India recently raised duty on imports of gold jewellery from 10% to 15%.
Ian Jarrett
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